Fender.



J. A. BOUGHTON.

FENDER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 4, 1910.

Inventor 2 SHEETS-SHEBT 1.

Patented Feb. 7, 191 1.

Witnesses Attorneys JAMES A. BOUGHTON, OF SCI-IENECTADY, NEW YORK.

FENDER.

seams.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed August 4, 1910.

Patented Feb. 7, 1911'.

Serial No. 575,462.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Janus A. BoUorrroN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Schenectady, in the county of Schenectady and State of NewYork, have invented a new and useful Fender, of which the following is aspecification.

It is the object of this invention to provide a fender for a car,adapted to move forwardly, under impact with an obstacle, to receivesuch obstacle.

Another object of the invention is to provide novel means for ad *ancingthe fender, and to provide novel means for holding the fender inretracted position, and for releasing the fender.

Another object of the invention is to provide a slidable, springactuated fender, with a pivoted guard mechanism, adapted to be actuated,by the movement of the fender, to assume such a position that any objectwhich is upon the fender, will be prevented from rolling therefrom.

Another object of the invention is to provide a fender of novel andimproved form, and to devise means for mounting the fender upon a carbody.

The drawings show typical embodiments merely, and it is to be understoodthat changes, properly falling within the scope of what is claimed, maybe made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

in the drawings,*Figure 1 shows the in vention in side elevation, thefender being held in retracted position; Fig. .2 is a side elevationshowing the fender in advanced position; Fig. 3 is a bottom plan showingthe fender in retracted position; Fig. l is a front elevation showingthe fender in retracted position, the car body being sectioned. Fig. 5is an end ele ation of one of the supporting brackets in which thefender is mounted; and Fig. 6 is a section of the fender upon the lineAB of Fig. 3.

In the drawings, the car body is denoted generally by the numeral 1, andshown coir ventionally. Secured to the car body 1, relatively near toits end, and adjacent its lateral edges, are forward brackets 2, andrear brackets 3. One of these brackets 3 is shown in detail in Fig. 5,the view serving to illustrate the form of the brackets 2, as well.These brackets are preferably U shaped elements, between the arms ofwhich are rotatably mounted upper rollers 4- and lower rollers 5.

That portion of the device which is described generally as the fender,consists of a carrying member 6, to which (referrmg to Fig. 1) a basket7 is removably secured,

a guard 8 being pivoted to the forward end of the basket 7. The carryingmember 6, the basket 7 and the guard S will be de scribed in detailhereinafter. Broadly speaking, the carrying member 6 is a U shapedelement, the arms 9 of which extend rearward, the arms 9 being slidablymounted between the rollers a and 5 of the brackets 2 and 3, so that thecarrying member may be advanced and retracted longitudinally of the carbody 1. It is to be noted that the arms 9 of the carrying memher 6 arearched upwardly, so that, when the carrying member 6 moves forwardly,the basket 7 which is assembled with the carrying member, will move intorelatively close relation with respect to the track. Thus the featurewill be clearly discerned by comparing F 1 and 2 of the drawings. Thearms 9 at their forward ends, are bent sharply upon themselves to formseats 10, the portion 11 of the carrying memher being elevated above theseats 10, and disposed to the rear thereof.

The basket 7 comprises a plurality of slats denoted generally by thenumeral 1.2. These slats 12 are connected, transversely of the basket,by a front brace 14: (see Fig. 3), by an intermediate brace 15, and by arear brace 16, although this specific construction of the basket may bedeparted from without impairing the utility of the device. As is usual,a plurality of rollers 17 are j ournaled upon the front brace 14;,between the slats 12, these rollers 17 serving to support the basketanti-frictionally, upon the tack, when the basket is depressed.

The outer slats of the basket are denoted by the numeral 18, and byreferring to Figs. 1. and 2 it will be seen that these slats are ofdouble walled construction, the rear ends of the outer slats 18 beingspaced apart to form fingers 19, adapted to fit in the seats of thecarrying member 6. Pins 20, or other securing members adapted to a likeend, may be inserted through the fingers 19, whereby the basket may beheld upon the carrying member 6.

The slats which are next to the outer slats 18 are denoted by thenumeral 21, and these slats 21 are provided at their rear ends, withspaced fingers 22, adapted to straddle the portion 11 of thecarrying-member 6. Preferably, the fingers 22 are devoid of securingdevices such as those denoted by the numeral 20. It will be seen that byremoving the pins 20, the basket 7 may readily be removed from thecarrying member (5, and owing to the fact that the fingers 22 engage theportion 11 of the carrying member 6, above and to the rear of the seats10, the fender, when mounted as shown in the drawings, will be retainedupon the carrying member against tilting.

Passing now to a detailed description of the guard 8, it will be seenthat the same is U-shaped in general outline, the portion 23 thereofextending across the fender, in front of the basket 7. The arms 24 ofthe guard are bent as at 25, the extremities of the arms 241 beingpivoted, as shown at 26, to the basket 7, adjacent the forward endthereof. The rear lower extremities 27 of the arms 2% are carriedbeneath the basket 7 and engage the outer slats 18, (see Fig. 3) touphold. the guard in the position shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. \Vhenthe guard 8 is thus disposed, the portion 23 of the guard will. bedisposed in front of the'basket 7. Spaced flexible members 28,preferably chains, are united at their forward ends as shown at 30, withthe guard 8, preferably at the points 25 where the arms 21 of the guardare bent. The rear ends of the flexible members 28 are secured, as shownat 29, to the car body 1.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 3, it will be seen that when the fender isretracted. as shown in Fig. 1, the chains 28 hang slack, the portion 23of the guard 8 being disposed in front of the basket 7. lVhen, however,the

fender is advanced, as shown in Fig. 2, the chains 28 will be drawntaut, the portion 23 of the guard 8 being disposed above the has ket 18.By this construction, the guard 8 and'thechains 28 serve. when thefender is advanced, as shown in Fig. 2, to house in the basket upon itsfront and sides, so that any object which has fallen into the basket,cannot roll therefrom.

' Resilient means for moving the fender from the position shown in Fig.1 to that shown in Fig. 2, are provided. Likewise, a latch mechanism isprovided whereby the fender may be held in the position shown in Fig. 1,against the action of the resilient means to actuate the fenderforwardly. The latch mechanism and the actuating means will now bedescribed.

A lever 31 is disposed longitudinally of the car body 1, the rear end ofthis lever 31 being pivotally mounted in a fulcrum bracket 32, securedto the lower face of the car body. The forward end of the lever 31terminates in hook 33. This hook 33 is adapted to engage the portion 11of the carrying member 6, to hold the carrying member in the retractedposition shown in Fig. 1, against the action of retractile springs 36,the forward ends of which are secured to the brackets 33, the rear endsof the springs 36 being secured to the rear ends of the arms 9 of thecarrying member (3. The hook 33 is normally held out of engagement withthe portion 11 of the carrying member 6 by means of a retractile spring34, the lower end of which is connected to the lever 31, the upper endof the spring 3 1 being secured to a suitable bracket 35, which saidbracket is connected to the car body 1.

A device is provided for depressing the lever 31, against the action ofthe spring 31, so that the hook 33 may engage the portion 11 of the.arrying member (5. This device for depressing the lever 31 includes alever 38, disposed transversely of the car body 1. The outer end of thislever 38 is pivoted in a fulcrum bracket 37, secured to the lower faceof the *ar body 1, the free, inner end of the lever 38 being adapted tobear upon the lever 31 to depress the same. The lever 33 is actuated bya plunger 39 which is slidably mounted in the car body 1 and pivoted, asshown at 4:0 to the lever 38. This plunger 39. together with the lever33 is normally held in uplifted position by means of a compressionspring 41, engaging the plunger 39 and the car body 1, as shown in Fig.11-. The portion 23 of the guard may carry a tubular rubber covering100. Compared with the springs 36, the spring 34 is very weak. Thisconstruction prevents the spring 34 from drawing the forward. end of thebar 31 upwardly to disengage the hook 33 from the portion 11 when thefender is in the position shown in Fig. 1.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 particularly, the operation of the device isas follows, presupposing that the fender is held in the retractedposition shown in Fig. 1. .Vhen the portion 23 of the guard 8 strikes anol) stacle, the carrying member 6 will, in the first instance, he slidrearwardly to a slight. extent, perhaps half an inch or so. Thismovement of the carrying member 6 will be suflicient to disengage theportion 11 of the carrying member 6 from the hook 33, whereupon thespring 31 will lift the lever 31, so that the springs 36 may slide thefender, including the carrying member 6, the ha skct 7 and the guard 8,forwardly, into the position shown in Fig. 2. The initial impact betweenthe guard 8 and the obstacle will serve to tilt the guard slightly. Asthe fender thus moves forward, the chains 23 will be drawn taut, tiltingthe guard 8 rearwardly, so that the portion 23 thereof will bepositioned above the basket 7, as hereinbefore described. Thus, theobject which has been deposited in the basket 7 will be retainedtherein, against displacement. Moreover, owing to the arcuate form of

